August 19, 2012 by David K. Sutton
5 Republican Efforts To Suppress The Vote In 2012
Everyone who believes in democracy and the right to vote, which is fundamental right in a democracy, should have a problem with any effort to make voting more difficult. Republicans have been on a crusade to do just that in 2011 and 2012. Below are 5 active Republican efforts to suppress the vote in 2012.
- Restricting voter registration drives
- Cutting back on early voting
- Passing voter ID laws
- Disenfranchising ex-felons
- Voter registration purges
Republicans have simple, but artificial, rationales their efforts. For voter registration drives it’s “ACORN.” For early voting it’s “too expensive.” For voter ID, well, that cancels out any cost savings because it’s actually expensive to implement, but the Republican rationale is that it’s needed to combat voter fraud, which doesn’t exist. For ex-felons, this is probably the easiest one to sell to the public even if it’s still wrong, the Republican rationale is “they don’t deserve to vote.” And finally, the Republican rationale for voter registration purges is to stop “non-citizens” from voting, which still falls under the category of voter fraud.
Republicans know they are not a big tent party. They know their election odds are better with less turnout. These 5 voter suppression tactics represent the Republican strategy to win elections in 2012 and beyond. They have no intention of modifying their party platform to be more inclusive, so their only chance of winning elections in a more diverse country is to suppress the vote.
credit: The list of Republican voter suppression efforts and their corresponding rationales were part of the first segment of Up with Chris Hayes on Sunday. Paraphrasing panelists Ari Berman (The Nation) and Judith Browne Dianis (The Advancement Project).
